“Mao” is missing.
Orange Coast College is asking for the public’s help in locating an Andy Warhol art piece depicting Chinese communist leader Mao Zedong that was stolen from campus.
Orange Coast College authorities were notified last week of a missing Andy Warhol screen print from the Frank M. Doyle Arts Pavilion.
Warhol’s 1972 screen print titled “Mao” was last seen in the vault of the Arts Pavilion, said Juan Gutierrez, director of marketing and public relations for the college.
The print was inspired by U.S. President Nixon’s trip to China to meet Chairman Mao, ending years of diplomatic isolation between the U.S. and China, according to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Warhol created 199 silkscreen paintings of Mao in five scales between 1972 and 1973.
The print that was in Orange Coast College’s possession was donated to the school in September 2020, Gutierrez said.
In 2015, the original Warhol painting sold for $47.5 million. Gutierrez said the stolen print is appraised at $50,000.
Campus police, in partnership with the Costa Mesa Police Department, are investigating the incident.
Orange Coast College authorities ask that anyone with information on the whereabouts of the print call the school’s campus safety department at (714) 432-5017 or the Costa Mesa Police Department at (714) 754-5252.
